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How to Work the Web This Valentine’s Day

How to Work the Web This Valentine’s Day

If love in the real world wasn’t complicated enough, the internet now puts a sea of possible matches at our fingertips. The possibilities can be daunting, but as Love: The Psychology of Attraction explains, online dating doesn’t need to be difficult.

Our video Finding Love Online has got some simple tips and tricks that might making finding your match online that much more likely.

Ready for more love facts? Try these five below. Turns out our brain plays a big part in matters of the heart.

1) Talking smart

Body language is thought to make up about 55 percent of communication. Get at ease in your body, and you’re more than halfway there.

2) Stranger than fiction

According to professor Barbara Fredrickson, love isn’t just for loved ones. In 2010, her research suggested that the condition of the vagus nerve, which helps us experience love and regulate our emotions, can be improved by small everyday moments of connection with strangers. Share a smile in the street and your brain gets a small hit of love.

3) First impressions

We know some people sooner than we think. Our brains take just three hundredths of a second, much less time than an eyeblink, to decide trustworthiness.

4) Love drug

Studies have shown that romantic rejection hits the same part of the brain as physical pain – rejection literally “hurts”. When our partner lets us down, we seek reassurance. And when we’re then reassured by them, our brain rewards us with oxytocin, the “cuddle hormone”, and dopamine – a chemical that activates the same neural circuits as cocaine and heroin. With each new upset, we chase the “hit” we need, which is why we sometimes can’t stop thinking about the people who let us down the most.

5) Best Friends for Life

A three-year Swedish study of over 13,600 people found that having good friends decreased the risk of having a heart attack by about half.

Crack the code of compatibility with Love: The Psychology of Attraction, a practical guide to successful dating and a happy relationship. If you're looking for passion, excitement, security or to fall in love, this relationship road map will put you on the right track, and keep you there.